Loose-leaf bihdeb



A. W. ENGEL.

LOOSE LEAF BINDER. APPLICATION FILED MAR- 13.1920.

1,408,870. Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

TOR WITNESSES: 5? 7 4 5 Z'%%gl #43 A TTORNEYLY UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICEQ ALBERT W. ENGEL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

LOOSE-LEAF BINDER.

Application filed March 13, 1920. 7 Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT IV. ENGEL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at hicago, in the county ofCook and the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Loose-Leaf Binders, of which the following is aspecification reference being'had to the accompanying drawings forming apart thereof.

he purpose of this invention is to provide an improved loose-leafbinder, particularly adapted for an album, or in general for holding, asloose leaves, envelopes whose contents may be rendered safely secured bymeans afforded for tying the cover members in closed position. Itconsists in the elements and features of construction shown anddescribed, as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of a loose leaf binderwith envelope contents, equipped with the parts constituting thisinvention, the same being shown partly open-ed and with the oppositeends of the strap and ties which embody the invention disengaged.

Figure 2 is a plan View of the securing strap with its ties disengagedfrom the cover members of the binder.

Figure 3 is a plan view of one of the binder members detached.

The structure shown in the drawings comprises two similar bindermembers, each consisting of the binding strip, 1, at one end, and coverboards, 2, hinged thereto at 3. The binder strip has midway in its widtha strap slot, 4:, which preferably has the form, seen in thedrawings,that is, the middle part of its length being a round eye, 4;,the slot extending both ways from the eye with a width less than thediameter of the eye, for a purpose hereinafter explained. The strap hasat the middle portion of its length a series of tie-apertures, 6, andnear its end an additional aperture, 7, and preferably a pair ofapertures, 7, 7 R-eeved through the apertures of the strap are two ties,9, 9, each having one end emerging through an end aperture, 7, and theother end emerging at the outer side of the strap through an aperture ofthe middle ser es, the proximate ends of the two ties emerging from saidmiddle series of apertures at a distance apart substantially that of thethickness of the binder and contents at any Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922. 365,441.

given time; that is, so that between the two emerging ends, or betweenthe two apertures of the middle series at which said ends emerge, thedistance is suflicient to accommo' date the binder and contents, so thatthe strap inserted through the strap slot, 4, and emerging at theopposite outer sides from the binder members, may have the ties at thebound end of the binder also emerging at the opposite outer sides of thebinding strips at a position to be tied together embracing said bind-erstrips at the bound ends, while the opposite end of the ties, emergingthrough the end aperture, 7, may extend out along the length of thecovers and be tied together embracing their free ends, thus securing thebinder and its contents against the loss of the latter, it beingunderstood that the particular purpose of thus providing means for tyingthe binder is that the' bound-in contents or loose leaves may consist ofenvelopes, 12,-which having their end flaps or side flaps unsealed, forconvenience of inserting and removing the contents of the envelopes,areheld securely closed by holding their said flaps closed as long as thecover members of the binder are held closed.

The particular purpose of making the slot, 4, with the enlargementconstituting the eye, i at the middle part, it may be understood, is toaccommodate the ties in entering and and withdrawing the strap with theties therein, through said slots.

I claim:

1. In a loose-leaf binder, in combination with binder members, eachcomprising a binding strip at one end and a cover board hinged to thebinding strip, the binding strips having each a strap slot extendingparallel with the hinge; a strap entered through said slot with itsopposite ends emerging at the outer sides of the opposite cover boards,said straps having each a series of tie apertures distributed over themiddle part of the length of the strap, and additional apertures neareach end, and two ties reeved respectively as to one end through the endapertures of the strap, and extending beyond the ends of the straptoward and beyond the free ends of the cover board, and as to the otherends, reeved through apertures of the middle series and emerging at theouter side of the strap at a distance apart approximately the thicknessof the binder and contents; whereby the correspending ends of the tiesmay be tied to of the length of the slot, the slot running getherembracing the binder at its opposite from the eye in both directionsbeing less in ends. Width then the diameter of the eye; whereby 2. Theconstruction defined in cluim l forethe ties may heziccommodated inentering u going, with the apertures in each end of the and Withdrawingthe strap through the slot.

' strap consisting of a pair of tie apertures In testimony whereof, Ihave hereunto set proximately situated, my hand at Chicago, Illinois,thisfllth day 3. The construction "defined in claim 1 of March,1920. iforegoing, with the strap slots in the hind- 10 ing strips having eachan eye at the middle ALBERT W. ENGEL.

